Scenario 13: Siege!

A dark secret has been kept by one of the brotherhoods of monks defending the Cathayan borderlands. Their ancient monastery stood on these slopes long before the fortress town which now surrounds it. One of the eldest Dragon Monks now comes to the Emissary to reveal a shocking truth. In the heart of the temple is a vault which holds a powerful artefact.

Some years ago, a tome of pure evil fell accidentally into the hands of a greedy merchant travelling to Cathay. When the warrior monks learned of its presence they swiftly took custody of the blasphemous grimoire and locked it away from prying eyes.

A powerful vision came to a seer from one of the northern tribes. Using the sight he was able to divine through examining various intestinal body parts, that he would lead the chieftain of his tribe to a mighty tool of the Dark Gods. Wary of his shaman’s gift, the war leader has followed the anointed guidance.

The Emissary is angered that he was not kept informed. The monks only share this information now for the herald of Chaos reportedly approaches.

Terrain

As depicted overleaf the defence wall of the besieged fortress town goes across the table, dividing it in two parts: inside the town and outside. We suggest an area roughly 4’ x 6’. Place four wooden houses or huts inside the town. Outside there can be several sections of forests, small hills or even small farms. It makes sense to place the scenery in a way that the various deployment zones are separated from each other.

Warbands

This is a multiplayer scenario and uses the rules for alliances from the “Chaos in the Streets” article (see Mordheim Annual 2002). This scenario is an important event in the campaign and therefore all participating warbands should take part in it.

All warbands with the Celestial Protectorate and the Damned Shall Burn! objectives are placed anywhere inside the besieged fortress town. They start the game in an alliance which can be broken in accordance with the normal multiplayer rules.

All warbands with the Scion of Chaos and the Silent Threat objectives are set up outside the town walls. They also start the game as allies.

For warbands with the Lure of Fortune objective, their player may choose whether they are placed in an alliance with the Celestial Protectorate warbands inside the town, or allied with the Scion of Chaos outside as illustrated. Chaos Dwarfs are always placed outside.

The Scourge of the Realm objective places warbands as individual attackers outside the town.

The starting positions described are only suggestions and might not work so well for your individual campaign, depending on how many players participate and which objectives they chose. You may have to make adjustments to the suggested alliances, rearrange the set-up or expand the gaming table size.

Special Rules

Defence Walls: The sheer surfaces of the walls surrounding the fortress town are too smooth to be climbed. No model can attempt to climb them unless it has the Wall Runner or Scales Sheer Surfaces skill, or it uses a rope & hook, a ladder or fighting claws.

Main Gate: The fortress town must have at least one wooden gate. The gate is locked from the inside but can be opened by any model inside the fortress by spending a full turn in base contact with it. From the outside the gate can only be opened through its destruction. A warrior may attack the gate in close combat just like any other enemy model. Treat the gate as Toughness 8, Wounds 4 and being immune to critical hits. Once it is opened the gate remains open.

Starting the Game

A randomly determined defending player takes the first turn followed by the other players in random order determined at the beginning of the game. Depending on the number of players you might want to write down the order to avoid confusion.

Ending the Game

The Scion of Chaos warbands and their allies win the game, if they manage to set all of the houses inside the border town on fire. They must either agree to share the victory (and agree upon who receives the artefact) or go on fighting.

In addition, the game ends when all warbands except one have failed their Rout test.

Experience

• +1 Survives: If a Hero or a Henchman group survives the battle they gain +1 Experience.
• +1 Winning Leader: The leader (or leaders) of the winning warband (or warbands) gains +1 Experience.
• +1 Per Enemy Out of Action: Any Hero earns +1 Experience for each enemy he puts out of action.
• +1 Gate Opened: If a Hero or a Henchman of the attackers side opens the front gate – be it from the inside or with force – they gain +1 Experience.

the chaos artefact

The winning warband takes possession of the Chaos artefact which was hidden inside the monastery: the Liber Chaotica.

If the winning side contains a warband of the Celestial Protectorate the artefact will be given to that warband for safekeeping, as it no longer safe in this pillaged town. If there is more than one warband with the Protectorate objective determine at random which of them gets the artefact.

All other winning warbands would find the artefact while plundering the city. In an alliance the winning warbands must agree upon who gets the artefact or else they continue the battle until an outright winner can be established to claim the prize.

Hints and tips

The defence walls are difficult to overcome. Note that the rules for ladders in the Spoils of War chapter include extra detail for this very purpose.

Remember that Heroes from all warbands have access to purchase torches and fire bombs. Any models which can use a bow can use fire arrows. All of these weapons can be used to set buildings (including walls and watchtowers!) on fire as described in the Fire Rules section of the Forces of Nature chapter. They count as stone buildings for this purpose.

In lands so bleak, so haunted, few tribes would willingly stay for longer than a day at a time, so a vikti exists in solitude, exploiting their residence to glimpse the future, twisting the fates of the northmen. To harm one with the sight is to invite the wrath of the gods, so shaman are respected by the tribes that employ them and more than a little feared. They pierce the veil of life and see through the darkness. With divination the witch doctors command powers not easily comprehended and even Tchar’s sorcerers cannot match the vitki in their ability to manipulate the death winds.